TIFFIN, Ohio - Despite a valiant effort in the third set from the visiting Trevecca Nazarene University Trojans, Tiffin University volleyball was able to earn a 3-1 (25-16, 25-8, 23-25, 25-12) victory on Friday night in the next-to-last game of the regular season.
Tonight's contest was the first Dragon home game all year that went over three sets, as the previous eight ended with TU sweeping opponents six times and getting swept twice. With the win, the Dragons improve to 14-4 in the G-MAC and 20-10 overall.
With Findlay's win tonight, Tiffin is locked into the third seed in the G-MAC West Division with one game to play. They will face the yet-to-be-determined 2-seed from the East Division when the conference championships begin next Tuesday.
In tonight's game, the Dragons did nothing but dominate in the first two sets, taking the first 25-16 before earning a lopsided 25-8 set two victory. In that second set, TU scored 10 of the first 11 points and did not look back, scoring six of the final seven as well. Tiffin did not make an error in the frame, hitting an incredible .583 as a team, while Trevecca managed an attack percentage of -.032.
The Dragons would come out flat in set three, however, as the Trojans jumped out to an early 10-4 lead thanks to eight unanswered points. TNU maintained that advantage for much of the set before Tiffin rallied to cut the deficit to one at 22-21. The Dragons were unable to complete the comeback, however, as the teams traded points for the rest of the set and the Trojans took a 25-23 victory.
Tiffin righted the ship in the fourth set, returning to their dominant ways as the Dragons scored 12 of the last 14 points of the frame to win 25-12, completing the 3-1 match victory.
Three Dragons recorded double-figure kills, led by Jenna Huffman's 20, seven blocks, and .486 hitting percentage. After tonight's game, Huffman has now moved into fifth-place in TU history with 1,089 career kills and third with 306 career block assists. The other Dragons with at least 10 kills were Olivia Davis (12 kills, .450 attack percentage) and Kyley Keene (11 kills, seven digs).
Sam Fallis also added 16 digs for Tiffin, while Emily Weithman dished out 35 assists on the evening. Weithman joined Huffman in moving up the record books in the category of career aces, as the senior is now in fifth-place all-time in Tiffin history.
The Dragons wrap up regular season action tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m., taking on the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers at home on Old Fort Bank Court.